Still Here With You
by fugen
Summary: Yaoi. HK pairing. Someone's been saving Kurama's ass a lot lately, and it's not Hiei, and yet...somehow IS. Kurama wants to know, but when he does, Hiei might have to go away...permanently. Will Kurama risk it?
1. The Prisoner of the Pristine Cell

Standard Disclaimer: I, sadly, do not own Yu Yu Hakusho, or Hiei *SOB*. To continue, I shall now begin the standard ranting.  
  
Fugen: Why of WHY can't I own YYH?  
  
Kurama: It's because the law states—  
  
Fugen: Oh, hell with the law. I WANNA OWN YU YU HAKUSHO!  
  
Kurama: But it's illegal to.  
  
Fugen: *glare* And I suppose you'd say the same thing about a certain fire demon who just so happens to be half koorime, right?  
  
Kurama: I'll get back to you on that -- --;  
  
Fugen: Damn you legal system!!!!!!!!  
  
~If I told you where I'd be spoiling things~  
  
"Hiei?"  
  
Kurama looked around, confused. What had happened? The last thing he remembered was a bloody battle with a youkai, and then the ground suddenly breaking up, followed by a dark, long fall. Hadn't Hiei and the others fallen with him? Kurama took another step further into the underground cavern, his footstep deafening in the walled place.  
  
There was no sign of the outside, so it was surprising that the cavern was lit, as if by invisible candles. Even so Kurama kept on hand on the cold damp wall, just to be extra cautious. Slowly and warily he walked round a curve, coming to a large, hollowed out room.  
  
It was...amazing. The roof of the cavern looked much more like a clear night sky littered with silver and gold stars, with broad streaks of a lighter blue in the background, signaling the presence of a comet that didn't show at all. The walls of the cavern were obsidian, polished to the degree that Kurama could clearly see his reflection in the volcanic stone and silky to the touch.  
  
In this underground nirvana, an occupant was already there.  
  
It was...a samurai? The young man, perhaps Kurama's own age, was seated with the left leg bent and held up against him, the right one laid on the ground at an angle. The back was bent forward, the left eye closed, the right eye covered by a black eye patch, a picture of sleep. One arm was half-wrapped around a sword sheathed in a black scabbard, the other laid upon the right leg. The samurai wore all black, which matched his hair, jet- black and tied in a loose sort of ponytail just below his neck. Kurama stared. How similar this assumed samurai was to his own Hiei. All black. Pale skin. Slender almost delicate body.  
  
And, even though the stranger was asleep, a show of no emotion, a veil that covered a fiery, lonely soul beneath it. How sad to see that that chains sprouted from almost every corner of the little, supposed paradise, rusty chains that bound both samurai and sword. How ironic it was too. It was as if to represent Hiei and his locked store of emotions.  
  
Almost reverently, hesitantly, Kurama reached out through the chains with one slim hand.  
  
//Fox...//  
  
His fingertips touched the stranger's cheek, a cold, but living stretch of skin.  
  
//Stupid fox...//  
  
Something was about to happen. The samurai was about to do something, either awaken or to go on sleeping. But something was going to happen, and it had everything to do with Hiei.  
  
//There's a lot about me you don't know.//  
  
//I know, Hiei. But it doesn't matter. I love you anyway.//  
  
//...One day...you might live to regret it...// 


	2. I'm Waiting For You

Standard Disclaimer: I, sadly, do not own Yu Yu Hakusho, or Hiei *SOB*. Now let the standard ranting begin!  
  
Fugen: Ahhhhh. More torment for the readers... ^_^  
  
Kurama: You're being much too cruel...again.  
  
Hiei: Hmph. She's just being her usual insane self.  
  
Fugen: NO I'M NOT!  
  
Hiei & Kurama: *flinch*  
  
Fugen: I'M NOT INSANE! I'M JUST YOUR TYPICALLY OBSESSED YYH FAN!  
  
Kurama: You distract her, I'll call the police...or the psychiatric hospital...  
  
Hiei: Got it.  
  
Fugen: AND I'M ALSO JUST YOUR TYPICAL HIEI-OBSESSED PERSON!  
  
~Kurama's House~  
  
Kurama jerked awake, breathing a bit harder than one would and sweating a bit. Rubbing his eyes, he wondered, 'Why...Why did I feel like...I've left Hiei behind?'  
  
But right there, lying next to him on his thin futon, lay the ever-so- loved koorime, fast asleep. Kurama reached out and touched him, causing Hiei to shift slightly in his sleep but not to the point of waking. So Kurama wrapped one arm around Hiei and drew him closer. Hiei allowed himself to be simply pulled over without a struggle. He was, after all, deep in sleep. Only in Kurama's bed would he ever sleep that way.  
  
For a while, Kurama just held the little swordsman, breathing in the ashy pine scent and pressing his lips between Hiei's shoulder blades. A kiss was hardly necessary, or even the contact, but it felt good, comforting. Happily Kurama recalled to the days before he and Hiei 'officially' got together, days when he'd just stand there amongst the woods, staring into the sky, wondering if it was his fate to remain as a human-bound youko captive forever, always alone. Days that Hiei brought to an end, days that would never come again.  
  
' Ai shiteru, Hi-chan.' Trying not to laugh out loud in pure joy and wake Hiei, Kurama restrained himself to a low chuckle and kissed his dear, precious little koorime. He remembered the first time he called Hiei 'Hi- chan'. The dark swordsman had erupted like the atom bomb, at least on the outside. Kurama hadn't missed the slight blush, the same reaction Hiei had given when Kurama called him 'cute' or such names like 'koi' and 'itooshi'.  
  
And, remembering the faces Hiei had made, Kurama couldn't help but laugh right out loud.  
  
THAT woke Hiei up. Groggily he shifted, and rubbed his eyes as he turned over to face Kurama. "What the hell now?" Hiei mumbled, trying not to yawn at the same time. Touching the tip of Hiei's nose with a fingertip, Kurama smiled and teased, " Oh, nothing. Just...remembering some things." Hiei fixed Kurama with a Not-AGAIN glare and closed his eyes to go back to sleep.  
  
Kurama laughed and kissed Hiei slowly. Bending over Kurama told him, "I'm going to go out for a moment. There's some groceries I need to buy." Hiei cracked open one eye, saying, "Sweet snow?" "We have enough, Hiei," Kurama reminded him. Hiei snorted incredulously and mumbled, " We never have enough." "That's because you eat it all, itooshi," Kurama pointed out. He was pleased to see a faint pink appear on Hiei's cheeks at the last word. One final chuckle and Kurama forced himself out of bed and got dressed.  
  
Birds singing. Sun shining. Few clouds, all of which were white and fluffy. Pale blue sky. Nice breeze. Yeah. All signs of a perfectly nice day, it seemed to Kurama as he walked along the sidewalk.  
  
Now, ever seen movies when it's perfect one moment and then, in a huge cliché, suddenly horrible the next?  
  
Bingo, people, bingo.  
  
The sky turned a hideous dark greenish-gray, the clouds turned black and the birds fell to the ground in bloody heaps. The ground cracked beneath Kurama's feet in violent jerks, startling the kitsune and happening so quickly that he had no time to cry out as he fell. To his surprise and relief, someone grabbed his hand and saved him. Kurama looked up, and gasped.  
  
It was that sleeping samurai, only he wasn't exactly asleep anymore. His eyes (or eye, singular) was open, and it shone the same deep, brilliant red as Hiei's. Fluidly the lips moved, forming words, and a pleasant, slightly echoing voice said them.  
  
"I'm waiting for you..." 


	3. Time's Running Out

Standard Disclaimer: I, very sadly, do not own Yu Yu Hakusho, or even at least a part of Hiei *SOB*.  
  
Fugen: The world is so CRUEL!  
  
Hiei: To you it isn't. You just think it is.  
  
Fugen: But I can't OWN you!  
  
Hiei: No one owns me, you stupid ningen!  
  
Kurama: But what about me? Don't I own you, Hiei?  
  
Hiei: Why you....  
  
~Genkai's Temple~  
  
"You're kidding, right? But why didn't anyone else notice?"  
  
Kurama sighed. He was telling Yusuke about what had happened to him just an hour ago. Not waiting for Kurama to answer, Yusuke demanded, " So what happened to the eye patch guy after he saved you?" " I don't know," Kurama answered truthfully. "Once I was safe, everything turned back to normal, as if nothing had ever happened." "Why don't you tell Hiei about it?" Yusuke asked. Kurama glanced over at Hiei, who was creating a buffer zone between Yukina and Kuwabara with his glare.  
"I don't know," Kurama murmured. " Something tells me that I shouldn't." "Well, you'll have to tell him sooner or later," Yusuke pointed out. Kurama nodded slowly in agreement. But why did he dread it so much? What harm was there in telling Hiei about the one-eyed stranger?  
  
~Underground Cavern~  
  
The shadow of a small-boned, longhaired figure loomed over the sleeping samurai, who was as ever immobile and unresponsive. A second shadow, obviously taller than the first, soon joined it. Nothing was said.  
  
The shorter of the two shadows walked around the samurai in a half- circle, each step deliberate and slow. The head was upturned toward the false sky, and out loud the shadow read the words the stars formed.  
  
"' Ashes to ashes, heaven to earth, earth to heaven, life to death, death to life, everything to nothing, nothing to everything. Sleep to awaken, awaken to sleep. What will he decide? Assimilated much of the six- tailed fox he has. Too strong a bond he has created between the world and himself. What then will humanity do for a guardian? The Abyss Eye he hides below and to the right of the jagan will soon take him over. What then? What then will his kitsune decide, what then will he do? Awaken, demon of the four swords...'"  
  
The second shadow inquired curiously, "Why stop there? There's more, as you can see." "There's five," the first shadow said abruptly. " What does it matter? Soon it won't matter anything," the second shadow replied. "To Kurama it will," the first shadow pointed out. "Are you that eager to hurt him?" The second shadow merely shrugged. "Continue."  
  
"'Awaken, demon of the four swords, give us thine answer. All but thine word hangs by a thread. Awaken. Open thine eye. Face the past, the future, the present unafraid. Will you not be willing to save your beloved? Already you have begun to stir, though only to save him. Soon, you must do more, lest more occurs. You cannot do as you do now forever.'"  
  
~Kurama's House~  
  
Without warning Hiei turned his head, and Kurama ended up kissing his cheek. Startled, Kurama leaned back a little. Hiei was looking out the window, his right eye strangely cloudy and pale. Alarmed, Kurama asked, " Hiei, are you all right?"  
  
Hiei blinked and turned his head to face Kurama again. Had it all been imagined? Hiei's right eye was just like his left, brilliantly red and expressively large. Frowning slightly Hiei demanded, " What?" " No, it's...just that your right eye...looked pale and cloudy for a minute there," Kurama stammered. Hiei frowned more deeply, but not enough to tell Kurama that it bothered him.  
  
//Hurry.//  
  
Kurama's voice froze in his throat. For a split second that seemed more like a eternity, the Hiei in his arms turned into the one-eyed samurai from before.  
  
//I'm waiting for you. Hurry. Time's running out.// 


	4. Freed

Standard Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho, or anything that falls under that category except for this fic. *SOB*. As for the standard ranting, you'll find it at the end of this chapter, as this is the last one. Enjoy. Please!  
  
~Kurama's House (or room, if you wanna get specific)  
  
What the hell was going on? Kurama stared, immobile, and neither did the one-eyed stranger before him.  
  
//Heh, heh. Time to remove the mask.//  
  
Kurama gasped when a slender pale hand reached out from the wall behind the samurai, and in one smooth move took off the eye patch.  
  
All Kurama got was a glimpse of a white eye with a pale blue iris before everything turned black and he began to fall.  
  
It was like before. Kurama fell a long way, but landed unharmed. With a groan he got up, a hand to his head. Somehow, he was only half-surprised that he was in that underground passageway again. He knew what lay round the curve ahead.  
  
Yapping in short bursts, a large silver-white kitsune with nine, thick plumy tails came running around the corner. Still yapping excitedly and before Kurama could even register what had just appeared before him, the kitsune took Kurama's sleeve in his mouth and began half-dragging the redhead down the passageway, round the curve.  
  
Nothing had changed in the cavern prison, except for that four swords surrounded the slumbering samurai like guards. All had their deadly blades half-embedded in the obsidian floor, each one loosely wrapped with a pale blue or red-gold strip of gauzy material, all possessing black hilts with words engraved onto them in silver.  
  
Hikari. Light.  
  
Kage. Shadow.  
  
Fukashigi. Mystery.  
  
Riyu. Reason.  
  
"There's a fifth, you know."  
  
At the sound of the voice Kurama jumped. Simultaneously the nine- tailed kitsune let go of Kurama and bounded over to the speaker, a fragile- looking youth with long white hair, a pale blue left eye, the other hidden by downy bangs, all dressed in white and pale blue with a bit of pale gold. Smiling, the youth repeated, "There's a fifth, you know, a fifth sword." " What's going on?" Kurama managed to breathe.  
  
Circling the strange cell with deliberate slowness, the youth lifted a hand to touch each sword by the hilt. Kurama recognized that hand as the same one that had removed the eye patch. But when he looked down at the prisoner, the eye patch was still there.  
  
"He's been a prisoner here for a very long time." Kurama lifted his head to the youth, who was speaking again. "He's very old, you know. He was born centuries before the Meiji Revolution, a period in history that could've been very different.  
  
"The one you see before you is who you suspect he is: your little fire demon lover, Hiei. This is his original form, the body he was born in years ago. It is nothing more than a mere phantom now. I suppose you can say he is now but a...ghost, so to speak. Would you like to hear his history?"  
  
Kurama said nothing. He was gazing at the samurai, who had not yet moved.  
  
"He was born in a village that would one day be Kyoto. Like any other demon, he spent most of his life doing nothing but surviving. His name, as it is now, was Hiei, and he is among the first real samurai to come into existence. A amply suited name, for he always wore black, his hair was black, and his speed could match that of any shadow. In fact, he gave the word 'Hiei' its meaning. 'Flying shadow'. Even now it suits him.  
  
"But I'm going off topic. You see, little is known about the real Hiei, what he was really like. By all appearances, he was like any other demon, seeing humans as fragile, stupid creatures. And yet, when the Japanese first caught sight of the American ships that would force open their doors, he defended these fragile, stupid creatures. For, you see, a group of demons decided to take advantage of the moment to invade first Japan, and then the world. They gathered a immeasurable army, countless in number.  
  
"But before they were fully mobilized, who would begin to rapidly decrease their number and cause uproar amongst them but this one-eyed samurai? Hiei stopped the Meiji Revolution from becoming a demon invasion. He single-handedly do so. He had no help, no real advantage, and yet he won against armies of highly intelligent, powerful demons that were not easy to kill. His only wound: his right eye. It's not scarred, only white now, from a poison. At least, that was his only superficial wound.  
  
"Hiei was exhausted by the time he had succeeded. He barely had enough energy to breathe on his own. And demons, those who feared that he would continue the slaughter once recovered, acted. They sealed him away down here, below the slopes of the mountain that took his name as the only monument, the only mark that revealed the most crucial time in history, the only living thing that took note of what Hiei did for the human world."  
  
The white-haired youth came to a stop. Abruptly he turned to face Kurama and the air was suddenly filled thick with significance. The youth said quietly, "But he's been down here too long. His soul was reincarnated (although his body was still corporeal), but that is not enough. The fifth sword must be extracted. It must be used to free Hiei, otherwise he vanishes like a candle flame from existence. You know where it is. You know its name. You know what must be done."  
  
"No...I don't..." Kurama stammered. He suddenly felt as if Hiei really was going to disappear, and the sands of Time were racing faster and faster, just to make his heartbeat do the same.  
  
"There is a price, as you know. Extract the fifth sword, use it, and the little three-eyed Hiei will vanish. He will no longer exist. Hiei will only exist as he did over a thousand years ago, as the samurai who saved the human world, and remains without reward."  
  
No...  
  
"Reincarnation or not, Hiei still has his pride, the same pride from over a thousand years ago. You know that it hurts his pride to be free, but when it comes down to the very bottom line, he's nothing but a prisoner in this false starry nirvana. You love him. But is it a selfish love, or real love? That is the only obstacle you have."  
  
No...he...he had answered that question years ago...hadn't he? Kurama wanted to run. He wanted to wake up from this confusing nightmare. Why wouldn't it end?  
  
//Still here...//  
  
A warm breath fell on Kurama's ear, but he didn't move.  
  
//...With you...//  
  
That voice. That deep voice Kurama needed to hear at that moment more than anything.  
  
//Can't be seen...can't hear you...//  
  
"Hiei!"  
  
//Can't feel you...can't taste you...//  
  
The real question was not whether or not Hiei was here now, but if he would be there then. As if he was a puppet controlled by invisible strings, Kurama made his way through the web of chains, and he then found himself kneeling before the sleeping samurai.  
  
//Can't see you...can't smell you...//  
  
Before Hiei...  
  
//Can't know you...//  
  
Kurama placed his hands on Hiei's chest. Silent tears fell as his mouth formed one word.  
  
//Can't talk to you...//  
  
"Kokoro."  
  
//But I'm still here...//  
  
There was no flash of blinding light, no sudden burst of august. A single katana, its blade of clear crystal, materialized from Hiei's chest, in between Kurama's hands. Once the sword had emerged completely, the chains withdrew, and Hiei vanished in a burst of flame.  
  
//Still here with you...//  
  
~Guess where (ain't the cavern)~  
  
The nightmare was over.  
  
Kurama stared up at his ceiling, refusing to move, and yet not refusing to believe what had just happened. Squeezing his eyes shut, he turned over onto his side.  
  
"Oompf! Get off me!"  
  
Kurama jumped. He had turned over onto a body, a small, familiar body. Slowly he opened his eyes, half-afraid.  
  
Untangling himself from the sheets Hiei sat up, looking a bit disgruntled. Glaring at Kurama, Hiei snarled, "Did you HAVE to roll over on me?"  
  
No reply. No response. At least, no verbal response. Kurama just tackled Hiei to the bed, holding the little fire demon like there was no tomorrow.  
  
What happened? Who knows if it was really a dream, or if it was reality. Only two beings know, two immortal beings who only watches the loving pair, and only smiles at our questions.  
  
Fugen: *Sob* A terrible fic! No wonder so few people reviewed it!  
  
Hiei: I told you you're a bad writer. It's 'cause of your damn insanity.  
  
Kurama: Hiei, be kind.  
  
Fugen: But arigato gozaimas for the people who did, especially Saelbu and Katyfoxdemon2. I remember you two and your kind reviews from my earlier fics, and am glad that you liked them enough to review this one. I promise to write better fics in the future, but I have a huge end-of-year history exam coming up in May, and I have to start studying now in order to cover all the material. I hope you still keep an eye out for any new fics of mine, though! 


End file.
